So, tor.com, wow

So, first, this tor.com post indicates that “AppleTV,” whatever that is, is going to be doing a Murderbot TV series.

Several responses to this post:

A) WOW, are you SURE this is tor.com?

The site is now called “Reactor,” and I’m sure they had many staff meetings about their new name, and I hate it. It literally has nothing to do with SFF at all. I mean, it’s a tech word, sure:

Reactor, noun. An apparatus or structure in which fissile material can be made to undergo a controlled, self-sustaining, clear reaction with the consequent release of energy.

What the heck does that have to do with an SFF site about books and tv series and whatever?

The site looks so weird and different that I immediately closed the window and looked carefully at search terms and what google was handing me before cautiously clicking back in and confirming that I am not between 13 and 15 years old, and –>

B) What is with that 13-15 question? Are children under 13 not considered important for this question? Why not? I have to say, 13-15, that’s weirdly narrow and specific. Also, an instant pop-up question like this makes this look like a, shall we say, a site for “adult material.” I’m not kidding. When a pop-up asks, “Hey, are you thirteen?” I immediately assume the next phrase should be “because we’re going to slam adult content into your eyeballs.”

I have never before seen a pop-up that wants to know whether I’m 13-15 years old. Never, not once. What in the WORLD is that about and it is a TERRIBLE idea and tor.com — oh, I mean structure-in-which-fissile-material-can-be-made-to-react-dot-com — should re-think that pop-up because seriously, it makes that site look like something to back out of hastily, which was exactly my first reaction.

And also, of more practical importance,

C) Does anybody know whether things that appear on Apple TV eventually make their way to DVDs you can buy on Amazon? Because I have no idea. If the Murderbot thing turns out to be good, I would be interested, but almost certainly not interested enough to find out what Apple TV is and how to use it, because there are limits.

***

While poking around, I also noticed this post, about what Jo Walton had on her reading list for this past February, and you know what’s on there? There are twelve books in this post, and they include:

A) Derring-do for Beginners, by Victoria Goddard, which I have on my TBR list but haven’t yet read.

B) The Stand-in, by Lily Chu, which I have on my TBR list but haven’t yet read.

C) The Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf, which I have on my physical TBR shelves but haven’t read.

D) Spear, by Nicola Griffith, which I have on my radar but haven’t read.

E) Scorpio, by Martin Kloos, which I have on my TBR pile but haven’t read. I should pull this one up to the top; there’s a dog.

It’s been eight years since an alien invasion drove a small surviving group of settlers to seek refuge in an underground shelter. Cut off from the rest of humanity, the ragtag band has maintained a narrowly functioning colony due to communal effort and salvage runs. Alex Archer has her own duties as a dog handler. While this off-world colony may be harsh, Ash, Alex’s black shepherd raised to sense threats, makes living in it a little nicer.

I’ve read other books by Kloos — Terms of Enlistment and then the second book in that series. In the second book, a specific major plot point hit me hard in the center of my suspension of disbelief, but I did like the first book very much. This one is associated, not part of the main series, and also, there is a dog.

Anyway, moving on, Jo Walton’s list also includes —

F) Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn, which is one of my favorite-ever comfort reads.

G) A book by Arthur Ransome in the Swallows and Amazons series, the first book of which I haven’t read but which is on my TBR pile.

I am like, SEVEN out of TWELVE are either in my hands right now, strongly on my radar, or one of my favorite ever comfort reads? This reading list is ridiculously strongly aimed at my personal tastes and interests and I mean, wow, who expected that?

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